Intentions to Marry, 1926 Dunstan to Chatham Islands

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840543, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1926 is bound in eight volumes (a to h) with continuous page numbers. Each volume contains a different set of districts, going from north to south.

1926h contains pages 3199-3612, covering districts from Dunstan to Chatham Islands

Page 3313

District of Oamaru Quarter ending 31 March 1926 Registrar H. A. Herd

Date of Notice

Names and Surnames of Parties

BDM Match

Condition

Calling or Profession

Age

Dwelling Place

Length of Residence

Marriage Place

Folio

Consent

Date of Certificate

Officiating Minister

23 February 1926

Leonard Joseph Dunwoodie
Lily Louisa Tait

Leonard Joseph Dunwoodie
Lily Louisa Tait
💍 1926/1348

Bachelor
Divorced (Decree absolute 24/7/25)

Slaughterman
Domestic Duties

41
36

Oamaru
Oamaru

2 months
36 years

Presbyterian manse, Reed Street, Oamaru

2730

23 February 1926

Rev. J. E. Bertram, Presbyterian

No	11
Date of Notice	23 February 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard Joseph Dunwoodie	Lily Louisa Tait
	💍 1926/1348
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced (Decree absolute 24/7/25)
Profession	Slaughterman	Domestic Duties
Age	41	36
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	2 months	36 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian manse, Reed Street, Oamaru
Folio	2730
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 February 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. E. Bertram, Presbyterian

2 March 1926

Neil McCone
Edith Margaret Clyma

Neil McCone
Edith Margaret Clyma
💍 1926/1349

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor
Domestic Duties

21
17

Oamaru
Oamaru

21 years
17 years

Wesley Methodist Church, Eden Street, Oamaru

2731

Edith Clyma, mother

2 March 1926

Rev. G. T. Stockwell, Methodist

No	12
Date of Notice	2 March 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Neil McCone	Edith Margaret Clyma
	💍 1926/1349
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor	Domestic Duties
Age	21	17
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	21 years	17 years
Marriage Place	Wesley Methodist Church, Eden Street, Oamaru
Folio	2731
Consent	Edith Clyma, mother
Date of Certificate	2 March 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. T. Stockwell, Methodist

5 March 1926

John Duncan Hamilton
Kathleen Edith Plunket

John Deuchar Familton
Kathleen Edith Plunket
💍 1926/1350

Bachelor
Spinster

Produce Salesman
Domestic Duties

30
22

Oamaru
Oamaru

21 years
21 years

Church of England, Oamaru

2732

5 March 1926

Archdeacon J. Russell, Anglican

No	13
Date of Notice	5 March 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Duncan Hamilton	Kathleen Edith Plunket
BDM Match (88%)	John Deuchar Familton	Kathleen Edith Plunket
	💍 1926/1350
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Produce Salesman	Domestic Duties
Age	30	22
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	21 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Oamaru
Folio	2732
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 March 1926
Officiating Minister	Archdeacon J. Russell, Anglican

15 March 1926

Thomas Reid McBride
Louise Margaret Gray

Thomas Reid McBride
Louisa Margaret Gray
💍 1926/1351

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Driver
Music Teacher

33
31

Oamaru
Oamaru

10 years
31 years

Baptist Church, Severn Street, Oamaru

2733

15 March 1926

Rev. J. A. Clarke, Baptist

No	14
Date of Notice	15 March 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Reid McBride	Louise Margaret Gray
BDM Match (98%)	Thomas Reid McBride	Louisa Margaret Gray
	💍 1926/1351
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Driver	Music Teacher
Age	33	31
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	10 years	31 years
Marriage Place	Baptist Church, Severn Street, Oamaru
Folio	2733
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 March 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Clarke, Baptist

17 March 1926

Percival Alexander Hunter
Ivy May Bottle

Percival Alexander Hunter
Ivy May Bottle
💍 1926/1352

Bachelor
Spinster

Plumber
Tailoress

30
27

Oamaru
Oamaru

6 years
27 years

St. Luke's English Church, Oamaru

2734

17 March 1926

Archdeacon J. Russell, Anglican

No	15
Date of Notice	17 March 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percival Alexander Hunter	Ivy May Bottle
	💍 1926/1352
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plumber	Tailoress
Age	30	27
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	6 years	27 years
Marriage Place	St. Luke's English Church, Oamaru
Folio	2734
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 March 1926
Officiating Minister	Archdeacon J. Russell, Anglican

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

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What is an Intention to Marry?

The 1854 Marriage Act required Pakeha settlers (and later Maori) to register their intention to marry from 1855. The resulting Notices of intention to marry were sent by the district registrars to the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages and bound into large volumes, each containing a year of notices. These registers were eventually deposited with Archives New Zealand.

What information does an ItM record?

A typical Intention to Marry notice records:

the bride and groom's full names
occupation of the groom (and sometimes the bride)
their ages
district where the marriage would take place
how long they had resided in the district
Where the marriage would take place (eg, a specific church)
Who would officiate the marriage (eg, a minister)
The date of the notice and also a date when the certificate was issued. Marriages had to take place within 3 months, and usually occurred within a week or so of the certificate date.
If one of the parties was under 21, a parent who consented to their marriage was usually specified

These details can provide clues for genealogical and historical research. Knowing the date and district makes it easier to look for wedding notices in Papers Past, and the amount of time that the parties had resided in a district can offer clues to whether a person was born in NZ, or when they immigrated.

However, finding individual records in the Intentions to Marry registers was typically a slow and manual process, usually requiring an in-person visit to Archives NZ's Wellington office (during limited opening hours) and using a handwritten card catalogue index to look up individual names.

Eight years of the registers had been digitised by Archives NZ prior to 2024, but even these digital versions required the use of a manual index and usually examining several pages to locate specific records.

What is the Intentions to Marry Project?

This project aims to transcribe the New Zealand Intentions to Marry registers (from 1855 to 1925) with the assistance of new technology (AI), making the records freely available and easily searchable.

The ITM records have also been cross-referenced with the registered marriages at DIA Births, Deaths and Marriages, where possible (a small fraction of the recorded intentions to marry did not become a registered marriage).

Primary digitisation of registers between 1855 and 1925 is now complete. Our digitisation volunteers are now working on verifying the currently digitised pages against printed district/page indexes, to identify pages which may have been missed or out of focus. These pages can be re-imaged as required.

The project is led by Luke Howison, a web developer who made the free genealogical research search tool NZ Ancestor Search Helper and Archway-style Collections Search. There are also some wonderful volunteers assisting with digitising the registers.

How can I help?

You can sign up to correct errors in the transcribed records and match ITMs with registered marriages.

You can also support this project by ☕ Buying us a coffee 🌳

How is the transcription done?

There are several steps to digitising and transcribing the records:

Digitising the registers (taking clean, straight, high-quality photos)
Processing the digitised pages by straightening, cropping and sharpening the images
Transcribing each page with a combination of AI tools
Matching each ITM with a registered marriage when possible
Human verification of the transcribed information

The main LLM (AI) used are the Google Gemini Pro and Flash models, which have excellent 'Vision' capabilities, and a generous free tier.

Archives NZ has released the register years they have digitised (1865-69, 1872, 1874 and 1880) under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 license.

The Intention to Marry registers (up to 1925) are more than 100 years old, so their Crown Copyright has expired, putting them in the public domain. This also applies to any 'mechanical reproductions' (eg, pictures or photocopies) of their content without substantial alteration.

The transcribed records on this website are released under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal license, which allows reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, even for commercial purposes, while giving credit to the creator (NZ Intentions to Marry Project).